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They say love makes you do crazy things…

No truer words can be said for the many fascinating ways romance plays out in the animal kingdom. You’ve heard of playing coy, playing shy and even playing hard to get. But how about … playing dead?!?

In the creepy-crawly world of Aterigena aculeata, a type of funnel-weaving spider, a male’s biggest fear isn’t commitment — it’s becoming dinner after sex, which is common in many spider species.

Female spiders in this species however have developed an odd mating tactic: when they’re ready to mate, they lay still with legs curled up as if lifeless. This display of fake-death signals to cautious males that it’s safe to approach without fear of being gobbled up. 

Unlike in some spider species where the female’s bite comes after the vows, these spiders basically give the green light by immobilizing with no signs of potential threat.

Researchers watched dozens of these spiders in the lab and found that when females played dead, mating success shot way up. Females that stayed alert and active didn’t attract that kind of attention from suitors. 

To double-check what was going on, scientists even compared natural play-dead behavior with chemically induced and scare-triggered death-feigns. Their chemical analysis showed that real mating “dead acts” were similar to fear-induced ones, meaning the females are choosing when to go limp. This means that this may not be a strategy by the male, but instead a situation where females utilize this tactic to target specific desired partners. 

Once the deed is done, the females snap out of their dramatic performance and carry on, while the relieved male scuttles away with his life. So in the dating game for some spiders, feigning death might just be the ultimate relationship strategy.